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See ya later, Martellus!

Reports were confirmed that the Packers released TE Martellus Bennett under the “failure to disclose” injury designation. When he was added to the injury report last week, I thought there was something fishy going on. It seemed like all of a sudden he had a should injury. Then, he missed the game against Detroit and immediately was ruled out for the game against Chicago. I don’t recall any hard hit, hard landing, or any play that would give any inclination that he was this hurt. Let’s go back to the beginning.

At first, I was excited about the signing of Martellus Bennett even though I thought Richard Rodgers was a capable tight end. It just seemed like the Packers organization, Rodgers and Marty were a match made in heaven. The Jared Cook experiment ended well, but he was always hurt, inconsistent and has never looked like a football player to me. He always looked awkward out on the field. So not signing Cook was always fine with me. Marty had a couple down years, but seemed to have a career rejuvenation in New England last year. He looked like he was back to having fun playing the game of football. Packer fans aren’t used to having a top-tier free agent get signed given Ted Thompson’s track record.

Then, the season started. Obviously, I thought it would take a couple games to get a connection going with Rodgers. You can try to get a connection going during training camp or in preseason games, but that won’t translate to when the games matter. Next, the drops started. It seemed like he was dropping more footballs than he was catching. Something just seemed off as the season progressed. I’m sure he heard the whispers from the fans about how he couldn’t catch the ball.

Rodgers goes down. On that play, Martellus dropped a crucial third down reception. That’s when I think things took a turn between the Packers and Martellus. All of sudden, the season didn’t seem as bright. It seemed like it was over. Packers ended up losing that game and are now on a 3 game losing streak. He hinted at retiring at the end of the year blah blah blah. Here’s my theory.

He’s a quitter. He never intended on playing for the 3 years that he signed to play. Martellus got a ring with the Patriots, but wanted another shot closer to home. He lives in Chicago where he runs his Imagination Agency. Signing with the Packers gave him the best chance to ring chase where he could go back and fourth. He never hinted at retirement until Rodgers went down and the losing streak started. So instead of waiting until the end of the year, he quit. Told the Packers that he was injured so it didn’t seem like he just walked away.

I’ll leave you with this. Everyone is going to be quick to blame TT for signing Bennett over Cook. You see it everywhere, “I told you he should’ve kept Cook”. First off, you’re only saying that because of what has transpired. I was excited just like the rest of Pack Nation. When TT dives into free agency, he usually makes it work.

Now what?

I don’t think we will, but Jimmy Graham is a free agent this summer. Do we make a run at him? Do we just go with Richard Rodgers and Lance Kendricks?